This is finally the end for Donald Sterling said a tough-talking NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

“There is absolutely no possibility that the lifetime ban will be rescinded or that the fine will be changed in any way,” Silver said.

“We’re almost there. There is this last piece, and that is the lawsuit that Donald brought against the league and me personally. I have absolute confidence it will be resolved because as part of the sale agreement with Shelly Sterling, she agreed to indemnify the league against a lawsuit by her husband.”

At his first Finals state of the union address since taking over from long-time NBA head David Stern, Silver brushed aside the Sterling and Game 1 broken air conditioner fiascos and focused on the healthy state of the league.

“In essence, Donald is suing himself and he knows that. While I understand he is frustrated, I think it’s over. I think it’s just a matter of time now, and then we will move on to better topics and back to the Finals.

“We’re enjoying record popularity at all levels, and in fact there is a renaissance going on in (the United States) around this game,” Silver said.

“Second, the business of the NBA has never been better ... record popularity, our ratings were up for the first game, never had more discussion about the NBA on social media and I’m very confident about the future.”

Silver, as Stern did so often in the past, made sure to hype up this series as well.

“This Finals is anything a basketball fan could have asked for; a rematch of course which we haven’t seen for years, two terrific teams, one of the great coaches, Gregg Popovich maybe in league history going for his fifth league championship, the Miami Heat and coach Spo going for that rare three-peat. Again, everything basketball fans could have hoped for,” Silver said. “And we have in LeBron and Tim Duncan two of the best ever, who have played in this league, and for all we know LeBron is just getting started.”

Just like the neophyte commissioner, who has not had the easiest time at the helm so far, largely thanks to Sterling.

No matter, he has proven to be tough early on and certainly is talking tough, already throwing in some rhetoric that should make fans of league lockouts happy (the NBA next can lock out the players in 2017).

“One of the things we sought for in terms of competitive balance was ensuring that every team in the league, regardless of market size, had an opportunity to compete,” he said. “I think we’re seeing that now under this collective bargaining agreement. All four teams in the Conference Finals are from the bottom half of the league in terms of market size. It’s far from perfect and we didn’t get everything we wanted in the last collective bargaining agreement. I think a hard cap or a harder cap would lead to even more competitive balance, but I’m pleased with what we’ve seen so far.”

Silver took umbrage at the idea that the $2 billion US sale of the Clippers to billionaire Steve Balmer has created an overly inflated marketplace for NBA franchises.

“I don’t think it’s overinflated in any way, and there were several other bidders, in addition to Steve Ballmer, as you know for the Clippers, and many came fairly close to the price he ultimately paid. So I have confidence that’s what the market is.”

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Sterling's time almost over: NBA commissioner Silver

This is finally the end for Donald Sterling said a tough-talking NBA Commissioner Adam Silver ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

“There is absolutely no possibility that the lifetime ban will be rescinded or that the fine will be changed in any way,” Silver said.

“We’re almost there. There is this last piece, and that is the lawsuit that Donald brought against the league and me personally. I have absolute confidence it will be resolved because as part of the sale agreement with Shelly Sterling, she agreed to indemnify the league against a lawsuit by her husband.”

At his first Finals state of the union address since taking over from long-time NBA head David Stern, Silver brushed aside the Sterling and Game 1 broken air conditioner fiascos and focused on the healthy state of the league.